In the early part of August, preparations were observed in the Russian camp on the Mackenzie plateau, where considerable reinforcements were also known to have arrived, which led the AUied Generals to the conclusion that an attack on the lines of the Tchernaya was in contemplation, and the troops were in consequence kept on the alert. The position, which was covered in its entire length by the river Tchernaya, and by the canal or aqueduct in rear of it, extended from a point opposite Tchorgoun to Inkermann, and was formed by a low range of heights overhanging the river, and, where these cease, after a dip in the vaUey, by the ridge of the plateau of the Chersonese. The left flank was thus protected by the head of the Harbour, and by its communication with the French right attack; and the difiicult and mountainous country beyond Tchorgoun, in which it was impossible to manoeuvre large bodies of men, secured the right flank from any danger of being turned. The right of the position was defended by the Sardinians, who occupied some commanding heights on the left bank of the River ChuUu, at the point where it forms its junction with the Tchernaya, with two advanced posts on the opposite side of the river. The centre and left were held by the French. Independently of a few not very practicable fords, the Tchernaya and the Canal are crossed by two bridges — one at Tchorgoun commanded
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by the guns of the Piedmontese, and the other below and almost in the centre of the French position. Between this and the Mackenzie plateau a plain of about two or three miles in width intervenes, and by this plain the Mackenzie Road crosses the Tchernaya at Traktir Bridge.
Before daylight on the morning of the 16th August, the Russians to the number of 50,000 or 60,000 men, with 160 pieces of artillery and 6000 cavalry, descended from the Mackenzie heights, and, debouching near Ai-Todor, advanced, favoured by the darkness, on the Tchernaya. The action commenced by a heavy column of the enemy, under the command of General Liprandi, and composed of the 6th and 17th Divisions, with the 4th and. 7th Divisions in reserve, attacking the advanced posts of the Sardinians. These, which were defended only by three companies, were maintained with the most distinguished gallantry for more than an hour, during which General La Marmora had time to complete his arrangements: and at the expiration of this time, finding themselves attacked in front by three columns of infantry and taken in rear by the Russian Artillery, this brave handful of men fell back in excellent order on the reinforcements which the General had ordered up to their assistance, and the advanced post on the far side of the river was abandoned. From this time the Sardinian artillery, assisted by Captain Mowbray's battery of 32 -pounder howitzers, used every effort to silence the enemy's guns — ■ and succeeded in causing them severe damage. In the meanwhile, another Russian division, advancing through the mist which overhung the Tchernaya, and through the smoke of the cannonade, which had now become general along the whole of the enemy's line, assailed the French on the extreme left. The shock was received with the greatest firmness by two regiments of the line and a battalion of Zouaves, who, charging the Russians with the bayonet both in flank and rear, drove them in confusion across the canal, and the division, which never rallied till well out of range, did not appear again in the battle. In the meantime, the Russian field batteries in the centre opened on the tete du pont which the French had constructed at the Traktir Bridge, on which, covered by the artillery fire, two divisions were now directed.